


To be a hero

by KukkiisArt



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff and Smut, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mighty being a sweetheart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2019-01-20 06:06:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12426570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KukkiisArt/pseuds/KukkiisArt
Summary: Sonic suffers a crushing defeat at Infinite's hand and only barely escapes with his life. Heavily wounded he is found by an old friend who wants nothing more than to comfort the broken hero. But of course reality has to catch up with them eventually.





	To be a hero

**Author's Note:**

> I wonder how many people are actually into this ship... I know it's super rare. I hardly find any content for it. But I still hope some people will find and enjoy it *V* This chapter is completely SFW, the next one might be a little less so, we'll see. I'm not done writing it just yet.

For the nth time he felt his back smash into, and through, concrete walls. He knew what would happen next, eventually he’d be slowed down enough to fall to the floor. How many times during this short fight had he been with his face in the dust only to be kicked again. And again. And again. Everything in his body was in pain but his opponent allowed him no second to rest. Unlike Eggman or any of his other foes, this one was silent. He didn’t stop his onslaught to gloat and taunt. He was fast and efficient, not giving Sonic even a second to get off the ground. It felt like he’d spent this entire fight with flying into walls or the floor.

With the last bit of effort he could muster he opened his eyes. People were depending on him. Tails was screaming his name somewhere in the distance, and he knew there were others here as well. He had to get up. He had to stand and fight. And yet, when he saw that telltale red glow hovering in front of him his body tensed up. Paralyzed. He was going to get smacked around again. Was there nothing he could do? He was Sonic the Hedgehog. And yet- His thought was forcefully ended as once again his foe’s metal-tipped shoe connected with his ribcage. He was sure there were hardly any ribs left to be broken by now. The next wall he hit with his shoulder, then his head, his vision went blurry.

His eyes were stinging, his body aching, he knew he couldn’t get up. He knew he couldn’t fight. This was the end but he was so afraid. If he died here, everyone would die. Everyone who depended on him. What was he supposed to do?

And then he saw his way out. The one Chaos Emerald he owned appeared in front of him, its white light almost blinding to his hurting eyes. Infinite appeared right behind him, ready for yet another attack. He had no time to hesitate. His finger touched the emerald. “Chaos… c… con… control.” He felt the all too familiar pull. Closed his eyes at the blinding light as space and time bent around him. The next thing he felt was soft grass underneath his body. There was water to be heard somewhere in the distance. Wind rustling through trees.

But Sonic was no longer conscious to care.

____

To his great surprise he woke up again. He’d been fairly convinced he would die after using up the last of his power with Chaos Control. But here he was. Feeling his conscious return to him. And to make it even weirder, his body felt much better. Not quite as good as he’d like it to feel but… better.

Now this was curious. He forced his eyes open. Where was he? What was happening? The first thing he saw was the fabric ceiling of a tent. It wasn’t a very big tent by the looks of it. Hardly enough for two people to stretch their legs out inside. Thankfully he wasn’t the tallest, and needed relatively little space. He was on a bedroll, covered with a thin blanket and next to him was a heap of medical supplies. Nothing fancy, just a pile of first aid stuff. Bandages, a bowl with water with a bloody rag inside, some salves that looked somewhat homemade, curious. Whatever the salves were, however, they were helping.

Though when he attempted to sit up he quickly noticed that a few salves could not heal broken ribs and so, with a groan, he lay back down again.

His noise however seemed to have startled his mystery host. There was rustling outside and just a moment later a familiar face turned up in the tent’s entrance.

“Sonic?” His voice was deep and warm just like he remembered from all these years ago. They hadn’t seen each other in what felt like forever. And yet the Armadillo hadn’t changed even a little.

“Mighty!” Sonic could feel a his throat tighten and he had to blink rapidly to save himself from crying. Mighty really was a sight for sore eyes. He was gentle and strong. Sonic firmly believed the Armadillo was one of the best people he’d met in his life, even if they didn’t see each other often. He knew him.

“Sonic. I’m so glad you finally woke up.” Mighty was making his way into the tent to sit next to him, his blue eyes were nervously scanning his body, then his face.

“How long was I out?” Sonic croaked, his voice didn’t want to play nice just yet.

“I found you a week ago… You were already passed out, so I’m not sure how long exactly you’ve been out.”

Sonic felt his stomach sink. A week. He’d been out of commission for a full week?! No wonder his body felt so much better. But that was secondary. First of all… A week. He’d abandoned everybody. He’d not only lost his fight against Infinite, he’d ran away. Like a coward. And he’d left everyone behind. Tails. Knuckles. Amy. Silver. The whole crew of newbies. Normal citizens without special powers who just wanted to help the good cause. He’d let them all down. He should have died right then and there. He should have put up a fight to the last minute. But he ran. Like a coward.

“Sonic?!” The urgency in Mighty’s voice snapped him out of his self loathing, and only then he noticed that his face was wet. Big tears rolling down the sides of his head as he stared at the blurry ceiling.

“Man I don’t know what happened to you but I’ve never seen you in a state like this before.” The armadillo was fidgeting. Clearly unsure of what to do. When he didn’t reply Mighty just carefully sat him up, pulling him into a gentle but slightly awkward hug. “Let it all out, big blue. You’ll be fine now. I got you.”

And with the warm hug and comforting words Sonic felt something overflow. He was startled by his own sobbing. He hadn’t heard himself cry for… forever. Maybe as a child but he couldn’t remember. His policy was to always smile. Just smile. But right now… right now it wasn’t possible. It wasn’t what he needed either. And so he cried. Ignoring the pain his his ribs. Ignoring the feeling of embarrassment. The only thing he couldn’t ignore was Mighty’s hand alternating between gently stroking and patting his back.  
  
Hours passed before Sonic calmed down. Days until he found it in himself again to smile. A week until he was healed enough to go for a run. Though he quickly returned to Mighty’s side. A place where he was safe. Even from his own intrusive thoughts. Mighty had been nothing but comfort to him for the past week. He didn’t ask him any questions even though Sonic was sure the Armadillo was curious what had happened. He didn’t ask. He didn’t mention that embarrassing crying moment either. He didn’t talk about his injuries, just quietly tended to them with a smile. And after the week was over Sonic didn’t want to leave anymore. In this little remote forest he was at peace. It felt like a dream he didn’t want to wake up from. One where his friends were okay, Infinite didn’t exist and he’d never failed. One where he was just taking a little fun vacation with his friend.

But there were darker parts of his mind, constantly struggling to get through to him. Darker parts that knew this was no dream. And that reality would catch up with him sooner or later. Just not yet. Not now.

“Sonic!” The gentle voice ripped him out of his dark thoughts, making both his head and his droopy ears perk up. “What are you doing staring at the firewood as if it stole your candy. Make a fire.” A hand patted his back with too much force and he almost fell face first into the little pile of firewood in front of him. “Ow. Mighty.” He complained but couldn’t help a smile at his friend’s guilty expression and the drooping ears.

“Sorry.”  
“It’s okay. What are we eating today?” Sonic changed the topic, finally starting to get that fire going. What day was it? He didn’t know. Didn’t care. Didn’t want to care.  
“It’s definitely not Chilidogs but I think I can make a stew.” Mighty said, sitting down on the tree stump next to him while looking into the bag he’d been carrying.  
“Why did you have to mention Chilidogs~” Sonic groaned, adding some wood to the fire.  
“Sorry. But hey I make great stew. So it’s okay.”  
“Well I guess your food hasn’t killed us yet but-”  
“Hedgehogs who can’t cook anything without a microwave are free to keep their mouths zipped.”

It wasn’t a lie. Sonic couldn’t cook and… to be honest Mighty’s mystery stews weren’t half bad. In fact some of them tasted pretty fantastic. It was mildly disconcerting that he had no idea what exactly the ingredients were, but as long as it didn’t kill either of them he figured it couldn’t be so bad.

“I can almost hear you insulting my cooking in your thoughts.” Despite the pouty content of the sentence, Mighty was grinning.  
“Are you a psychic?”  
“So I was right?!” He asked acting offended.  
Sonic couldn’t help but chuckle. It felt good to laugh but he couldn’t keep it up for long. Instantly guilt washed over him. He sat at a campfire having a fun trivial conversation while everyone he loved and cared for was possibly dead.

“Hey Red?”  
“Hm?” Mighty looked up from dicing potatoes.  
“You… never asked me how I got hurt, or how I got here.”  
“I didn’t.” The Armadillo nodded and watched his every expression attentively.  
“Why? Aren’t you curious?”  
“Sure, I’m curious. But I trust you to know what you’re doing. When you’re ready to tell me I’ll listen. And until then, I’ll just make sure you don’t get hurt like that again.”

Sonic felt his chest tighten. Mighty’s voice was so warm and calm. It made him feel like crying again.  
“Thanks Mighty.”  
“Sure thing, big blue. You wanna cut onions for me?” With a smile he extended two onions towards Sonic and the blue one took them without another comment. His eyes were stinging, breathing was hard. He took one of their knives and started peeling and cutting the onions. Before long tears were streaming down his face. Whether it was from the onions or something else, he couldn’t tell.

Mighty just gave him a warm smile and continued with the potatoes.  
“You’re a real good egg, blue. No matter what happens… I know you’ll always come through in the end. You always have. I owe you a lot. A lot of folks do.”

Sonic knew if he opened his mouth to speak his voice would be breaking, so all he did was lean to the side, his shoulder gently touching Mighty’s. That big hand, he knew could crush solid steel with ease, found its way onto Sonic’s head, petting his spines carefully.

“Ow. Why do you have to be a walking cactus, Blue?”  
“Pfft.” And Sonic was grinning again, even though his vision was swimming in tears.  
“Well I guess you’re not spiky everywhere. I’m just petting the wrong parts.” His friend mused idly while scanning his body. Sonic felt a bit self conscious being scanned like that even though he had nothing to hide. It still felt a bit weird to be looked at so thoroughly. He was almost glad when Mighty had found what he’d been looking for. Only for a moment though because a second later he almost dropped his knife.

Mighty had put down his potatoes and was now using both of his hands to touch the tips of his ears, gently. No doubt to tease him, but it was a strange sensation nonetheless. For a moment his body froze and he looked up to Mighty who seemed content with what he was doing. Mighty’s thumbs started to gently rub the peach coloured inside of his ears.

“So soft.”  
Mighty’s fingers weren’t exactly soft, but gentle, for sure. The hedgehog felt an almost irresistible urge to close his eyes. The sound of fingers rubbing over his fur was so loud in his ears, it made all other noises disappear.  
“Hm. Are you gonna start purring, Blue?” The armadillo teased.  
“Zip it, Red.” And Sonic’s eyes closed. Just for a moment. This was okay, right? He could allow this soft tingling sensation and the monotone noise to overpower him for just a moment. After all he was safe here.

He didn’t even notice his tears had stopped, or that he was lowering the onions and the knife until they dropped onto the plate in front of him.

“Does it feel that good?” Mighty’s voice was quiet, and because it was deep and gentle it just added to the sensation. Sonic said nothing.  
“Hey Blue…” Sonic shivered. Mighty’s voice was closer now. Closer to his ear. It made his fur puff up.  
“Hm?” He only responded because… he needed Mighty to keep talking. He needed it.  
“You’re purring.” It was only a whisper right next to his ear now. He could feel the heat radiating off Mighty’s body. He was so close. He didn’t even need to open his eyes to know. So close. It took a moment or two for the words to sink in, and only then he realised that Mighty was right. Now he was no cat, and his purr wasn’t steady and loud, but it was there. Softly. Whenever he exhaled.

Sonic was so lost in this curious experience that the sound of his own stomach growling startled him enough to make his body jump and his spines puff up. He almost whined when Mighty’s hands disappeared from his ears, pulling him back into reality full force. His whole body felt tingly and weirdly heavy now. He wanted to nap.  
“That was surprisingly… cute.” Mighty noted, his voice embarrassingly genuine. And only now, that he opened his eyes, Sonic saw how close the other was. Too close. That was the correct answer. But some part in the Hedgehogs mind said ‘not close enough’. He chose to ignore it.

“Let’s cook come on. I’m starving.” He said turning his mildly flushed face away, focussing on the onions again.  
“You mean I cook and you nap until it’s done.”  
“Yeah, exactly.”  
Mighty only shook his head with a grin.  
For a moment Sonic watched him go about his cooking thing and wondered… if he stayed here forever… was everything just going to stay being alright? Forever? Was this what life felt like when you weren’t a hero? When you weren’t constantly fighting evil? Because if this was what it felt like then… he wanted to stop. He wanted to quit being a hero. He just wanted to stay here. Where pain and suffering and worry and evil were all far away. Where no eggman came after him constantly, no chaos, no shadow who had switched sides yet again, no Infinite. No pressure that if he failed everything and everyone would perish. No nightmares that rattled him awake at night and forced him to go check on his friends to see if they were okay. Here in this little opening in the middle of the forest… everything was okay. Where Mighty made everything seem like it was okay.

That thought in mind he let himself sink down into the grass next to his tree stump and closed his eyes.  
“Wake me when the food’s done?”  
“Sure thing, Blue.”


End file.
